Feeling stressed these days? Here’s a quote to kick you out of your funk.
“So you had a bad day. Kick it aside and be grateful for one less bad day to pass through.” Richelle E. Goodrich
Life can get stressful. Everyone knows this! No one lives a life free of stress. However, some people handle stress better than others.
Licensed pharmacist John Sichel says, “While stress is inevitable, it is manageable for most people with the right coping techniques and management strategies.” If you find it hard to focus on the good things in life, you may be spending too much time focusing on how stressed out you are. Don’t worry, we all do it!
The goal is to shift that focus from the stress in your life and start focusing on the things that are going right. If you need help, these tips can make it easier to stop focusing on how stressed you are, and help you start focusing on how blessed you are.
Here Are 5 Ways To Help You Remember How Blessed You Are (You will feel less stressed!)
1. Focus on what you can control
Like author and behavioral scientist Steve Maraboli once said, “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” A lot of our stress comes from focusing on things that are too far out of our control. We often find that when we focus on things that we can’t control, like the future, then we’re more stressed than ever.
Instead, focus on what you can control. Usually, it’s only yourself! However, you can control how you feel, how you react, what you do, and what you say. Instead of worrying about things beyond your control, think of all the things you can control that will help you feel safe and stable. Focus on the good things that you can make happen, and you’ll easily find out how blessed you really are.
2. What do you fear?
Identifying the things that you fear the most will make it easier to combat them. After all, fear can easily stress us out. “When we experience fear, our body perceives a real and present threat or danger—even if none is really there. Most of the time, we fear things that haven’t even happened and often will never happen,” says clinical psychologist Christina G. Hibbert, Psy.D.
Are you afraid of losing your job? Of the car breaking down? These are logical fears. But, the best thing to do is focus on what the worst-case scenario is, because you’ll find that it’s not usually as bad as you think. Then, you can be grateful about all of these things aren’t happening to you. In fact, you do have a job and a running car, these are things to be thankful for, not stress over!
3. Focus on your influence
No, you can’t force things to happen. Trying to find a way to force anything will only leave you feeling more stressed out than before. But, you can influence an outcome. Rather than trying to force your boss to give you a raise, you can influence his decision by working extra hard, picking up over time, or extra shifts. Your hard work won’t go unnoticed. You’ll find that your influence is greater than you imagined! When you stop focusing on things you can’t do, the things that you can do suddenly become clear.
4. Learn to problem-solve
Worrying over a problem and solving the problem are two different things. One causes you to stress out and over think, while the other puts steps into action to get the problem taken care of. Learning how to sit down and focus on a problem and the steps you need to take to solve it can become one of the quickest ways to knock out stress so that you can focus on the great and amazing things in life.
“You’ll find that most problems we encounter rate somewhere in the two to five range—in other words, they’re really not such a big deal,” says Allen Elkin, PhD, director of the Stress Management Counseling Center. Worrying over a problem causes it to take up your whole vision – while solving it opens your eyes to all the blessed things in your life!
5. Positive affirmations
When stress becomes overwhelming, a great way to remind yourself how blessed you are is to begin telling yourself positive affirmations. Remind yourself of all the good things in life. Your job is stressful? Remind yourself that you have a job that puts food on the table and keeps you afloat. You don’t get to see your partner as much? Remind yourself that you’re both in this together, and that you love one another. Practicing positive affirmations every day, or whenever life gets you down, is a great way to knock that stress back and stay focused on the good things in your life.
Feeling Blessed Not Stressed
Life can throw us all kinds of different curveballs. Stress can manifest from anywhere. However, it’s up to us to keep ourselves above the waves of stress. Focusing too much on our stress means that we’re not focusing enough on the good things in our lives. And we have so many good things! Even when life seems like it can’t possibly get worse, there’s always a silver lining, and there’s always something positive to look towards.
Community
